The present invention is concerned with the transfer of confidential information to a subscriber by means of a portable ticket. More specifically this invention relates to games of chance in which outcomes are indicated to a player by means of confidential information printed on a blank ticket in such a manner as to conceal the information from sight until the player selectively exposes it.
As is known, games of chance such as instant lotteries are played by patrons who purchase lottery tickets, each of which has the outcome of a patron's lottery play printed on it. Typically, the play result is imprinted in some visible form on a predetermined area of the ticket that is thereafter covered by an overlay to conceal the play result. In the prior art such tickets are produced by a continuous printing process that imprints the result of a respective play on each ticket and then covers the printed result by the opaque covering.
The tickets with their pre-printed, concealed play results are then bundled and distributed through the lottery organization to agents who sell the tickets to the lottery patrons. Typically, extreme security measures must be implemented for the printing, distribution and servicing to the lottery tickets. Because the tickets are premarked, they have a determinable value that can be ascertained if the printed results are known. In the normal course, each ticket is assigned a unique serial number so that a winning ticket can be spotted and identified prior to its sale. In order to prevent unscrupulous persons who might have access to information associating ticket serial numbers with gaming outcomes from wrongfully manipulating the results of the lottery, the aforementioned security measures are maintained throughout the whole line of ticket distribution to the lottery patrons.
Because the line of distribution is so long and involves so many people including persons responsible for printing, administering, warehousing, and distributing the tickets to agents, the security measures are extreme and expensive. Ultimately, the profit earned by a lottery is reduced by the cost of the security measures involved.
Because lotteries are often used to raise revenue for public or quasi-public purposes, it is necessary to control the costs of promoting the games in order to maximize the benefits the public derives from the games. Therefore, a system that could efficiently distribute confidential lottery result information to patrons in an efficient, secure, yet inexpensive manner would enhance the public benefit derived from the game.
It is therefore the principal object of the present invention to permit secure placement of confidential information on a generally-circulated blank ticket.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system having the ability to securely place the confidential information on the blank ticket after it is circulated.